Traktor TSI file management

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Traktor TSI file management
Posted on: 04.11.2013 by Leoma Larouche
I picked up my copy of Traktor a week ago, I've put great effort into reading the user manual and now I am creating a mapping for my BCR2000.

The most compelling and greatest feature of Traktor is without a doubt the flexibility of its mappings, and yet it is Traktor's most infuriating, insulting and frustrating feature because of the way users are forced to manage and edit mappings exclusively by means of the mouse.

Currently it is impossible to re-use sections of existing mappings, or to merge two mappings. Everything must be done click-by-click, instead of using a simple, human-readable, plain-text file that anyone could edit in Notepad.

Now, being able to modify a couple of mappings quickly from the GUI is fine, but the again the mappings table isn't searchable, whereas a plain text file is.

The current state of affairs inhibits experimentation, and I refuse to believe that NI force themselves to create mappings the way we are forced to do. Essentially, they probably have a plain-text to TSI converter. So when can we have it?

Surely Ean and all the other gurus round here are with me on this one, yes/no?
Leoma Larouche
04.01.2014
Originally Posted by synthet1c
what did you use to crack it? I'm pretty good with javascript and RegExp but no nothing about encryption.
You can use Notepad++ and it's built-in Base64 encoder-decoder plugin, as detailed here.

Of course, being able to change an existing mapping or two is one thing, but reverse-engineering the structure of a TSI file is a much bigger task. Today I was trying to have a go at it, but I don't know where to begin, and it seems like a lot of hassle (although the benefits would be substantial).

IMO NI make some of the best music software around, but just cannot understand some of their policies and design decisions. Not providing a way to copy/paste and merge sections of a mapping is just nuts. It completely discourages users from coming up with cool new mappings. The power is there, but it's not easy to access.
Dorothea Ketels
18.11.2013
Originally Posted by VanGogo
XM will not sort by comments, or show them in the commands list. Which kinda sucks.
It actually does that... just use View > Show Table column > Comment in the top menu, the Comment is shown on the right end of the table and cliking on the header lets you sort mappings by comment
Leoma Larouche
11.11.2013
Originally Posted by Stewe
It's called organization. I mainly keep all of commands in big groups and I use a comment only to recognize what each group is set for in there. Pretty much reading the modifier conditions to locate a specific parameter. After more than ten years of mappings it's like looking in the Matrix (God mode on)
And yet it's a monolithic, non-searchable list. Searching is possible (and has been possible since forever) even in Notepad. Three comment fields would allow more sophisticated tagging and sorting. A search function would greatly enhance the user experience in the mappings manager (as long as it supports partial-word and out-of-order searches like, say, Winamp).

Like I said, human-readable TSI files is the easiest way to fix this problem. Contrary to what I thought, the mappings section of a TSI file is not encrypted, it just uses some simple encoding scheme which I managed to crack last week in 5 minutes. However, it's not so easy to reverse-engineer the structure of the data, even after decoding it. Maybe I'll give it a go over Christmas....
Kellie Myrum
07.11.2013
Originally Posted by VanGogo
Stewe the Xtreme Mapping app would save you a lot of time. Just being able to copy and paste a batch of commands,(from any mapping to any other mapping) then change the note assignment (and/or modifiers) of that batch is such a time saver. In your case with all the mappings you do, you could save hours upon hours of time.
Me knows bud, though I'd need to buy mac to get started with EM...
Kellie Myrum
04.11.2013
Originally Posted by kooper1980
You must be the only person I can believe of that believes this. Yes mapping is easy but the way its handled in Traktor is indeed infuriating at times. As Scoox says simply not being able to delete multiple entries at once or even amend multiple entries at once is annoying and over complicated.
The mapping is game. Don't add commands you want to delete on later

But seriously, this request have been bored NI that they don't want to add it to interface.
Kristofer Krauel
04.11.2013
Originally Posted by Stewe
NI mappings are simple and easy to create so they probably don't need better interface. Let's see if Pro 3 would touch the manager more.
You must be the only person I can believe of that believes this. Yes mapping is easy but the way its handled in Traktor is indeed infuriating at times. As Scoox says simply not being able to delete multiple entries at once or even amend multiple entries at once is annoying and over complicated.
Leoma Larouche
04.11.2013		I picked up my copy of Traktor a week ago, I've put great effort into reading the user manual and now I am creating a mapping for my BCR2000.

The most compelling and greatest feature of Traktor is without a doubt the flexibility of its mappings, and yet it is Traktor's most infuriating, insulting and frustrating feature because of the way users are forced to manage and edit mappings exclusively by means of the mouse.

Currently it is impossible to re-use sections of existing mappings, or to merge two mappings. Everything must be done click-by-click, instead of using a simple, human-readable, plain-text file that anyone could edit in Notepad.

Now, being able to modify a couple of mappings quickly from the GUI is fine, but the again the mappings table isn't searchable, whereas a plain text file is.

The current state of affairs inhibits experimentation, and I refuse to believe that NI force themselves to create mappings the way we are forced to do. Essentially, they probably have a plain-text to TSI converter. So when can we have it?

Surely Ean and all the other gurus round here are with me on this one, yes/no?
Leoma Larouche
04.01.2014
Originally Posted by synthet1c
what did you use to crack it? I'm pretty good with javascript and RegExp but no nothing about encryption.
You can use Notepad++ and it's built-in Base64 encoder-decoder plugin, as detailed here.

Of course, being able to change an existing mapping or two is one thing, but reverse-engineering the structure of a TSI file is a much bigger task. Today I was trying to have a go at it, but I don't know where to begin, and it seems like a lot of hassle (although the benefits would be substantial).

IMO NI make some of the best music software around, but just cannot understand some of their policies and design decisions. Not providing a way to copy/paste and merge sections of a mapping is just nuts. It completely discourages users from coming up with cool new mappings. The power is there, but it's not easy to access.
Charline Dye
22.11.2013		You are correct sir. Thanks for showing me the way
Dorothea Ketels
18.11.2013
Originally Posted by VanGogo
XM will not sort by comments, or show them in the commands list. Which kinda sucks.
It actually does that... just use View > Show Table column > Comment in the top menu, the Comment is shown on the right end of the table and cliking on the header lets you sort mappings by comment
Jonathan Chiuchiolo
12.11.2013		what did you use to crack it? I'm pretty good with javascript and RegExp but no nothing about encryption.
Leoma Larouche
11.11.2013
Originally Posted by Stewe
It's called organization. I mainly keep all of commands in big groups and I use a comment only to recognize what each group is set for in there. Pretty much reading the modifier conditions to locate a specific parameter. After more than ten years of mappings it's like looking in the Matrix (God mode on)
And yet it's a monolithic, non-searchable list. Searching is possible (and has been possible since forever) even in Notepad. Three comment fields would allow more sophisticated tagging and sorting. A search function would greatly enhance the user experience in the mappings manager (as long as it supports partial-word and out-of-order searches like, say, Winamp).

Like I said, human-readable TSI files is the easiest way to fix this problem. Contrary to what I thought, the mappings section of a TSI file is not encrypted, it just uses some simple encoding scheme which I managed to crack last week in 5 minutes. However, it's not so easy to reverse-engineer the structure of the data, even after decoding it. Maybe I'll give it a go over Christmas....
Kellie Myrum
07.11.2013		It's called organization. I mainly keep all of commands in big groups and I use a comment only to recognize what each group is set for in there. Pretty much reading the modifier conditions to locate a specific parameter. After more than ten years of mappings it's like looking in the Matrix (God mode on)
Charline Dye
07.11.2013		I can't do without the comments, makes sorting and finding what I need a lot easier, and helps me keep my head around what's going on in the mapping. I'd get lost with out them.
Kellie Myrum
07.11.2013		I believe I could live with that I hardly use comments anyway but possibility to mark and edit multiple commands is pure gold.
Charline Dye
07.11.2013		"I see" said the blind man. Well sorry to rub it in then. Haha

To make you feel a little better XM will not sort by comments, or show them in the commands list. Which kinda sucks.

EDIT: XM does show and sort comments since version 1.3
Kellie Myrum
07.11.2013
Originally Posted by VanGogo
Stewe the Xtreme Mapping app would save you a lot of time. Just being able to copy and paste a batch of commands,(from any mapping to any other mapping) then change the note assignment (and/or modifiers) of that batch is such a time saver. In your case with all the mappings you do, you could save hours upon hours of time.
Me knows bud, though I'd need to buy mac to get started with EM...
Charline Dye
08.11.2013		Stewe the Xtreme Mapping app would save you a lot of time. Just being able to copy and paste a batch of commands,(from any mapping to any other mapping) then change the note assignment (and/or modifiers) of that batch is such a time saver. In your case with all the mappings you do, you could save hours upon hours of time.
Brunilda Kora
05.11.2013
What would help is a TSI-to-TXT and TXT-to-TSI conversion utility.
Yup.

...Traktor's interface makes me feel like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back.
Yup.

DJ Decks used to have a GREAT mapping system - using text files (notepad!). It's a great shame Traktor doesn't have something similar.
Leoma Larouche
04.11.2013		Advanced text editors such as EditPlus are able to search and replace in very sophisticated ways (including using RegEx). I very much doubt Xtreme Mappings can be anywhere near as good as a simple human-readable text file. And anyway, I am on PC so that doesn't help. What would help is a TSI-to-TXT and TXT-to-TSI conversion utility. In this case whether the app is for Mac or Window is only a minor details--the encoding and decoding algorithms would be cross-platform without modification. Doing format conversion is not rocket science, even I could do it provided NI told me the algorithm behind their cryptic TSI files.

Apparently the developer of Xtreme Mappings has figured this one out but is not willing to share the joy with PC users.

I develop some simple software as a hobby, and Traktor's interface makes me feel like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back.
Kellie Myrum
04.11.2013
Originally Posted by kooper1980
You must be the only person I can believe of that believes this. Yes mapping is easy but the way its handled in Traktor is indeed infuriating at times. As Scoox says simply not being able to delete multiple entries at once or even amend multiple entries at once is annoying and over complicated.
The mapping is game. Don't add commands you want to delete on later

But seriously, this request have been bored NI that they don't want to add it to interface.
Kristofer Krauel
04.11.2013
Originally Posted by Stewe
NI mappings are simple and easy to create so they probably don't need better interface. Let's see if Pro 3 would touch the manager more.
You must be the only person I can believe of that believes this. Yes mapping is easy but the way its handled in Traktor is indeed infuriating at times. As Scoox says simply not being able to delete multiple entries at once or even amend multiple entries at once is annoying and over complicated.
Kellie Myrum
04.11.2013		You can use extreme mappings app to do everything you've described but this app is available only for a mac for eternity. Although I don't use it for my mappings...

They probably have some paterns but you can't run away from UI if you dont have some fancy commands that we don't see
Leoma Larouche
04.11.2013		So may I ask how you go about managing managing, reusing, modifying, merging, etc, your mappings? What if you want to delete 10 entries in the mappings table? Can you select more than one entry simultaneously? Traktor mappings are simple and easy to create, but once created they are not easy to manage. This wouldn't be the case if TSI files were human-friendly. I just created a mapping with just one assignment, and that exported to a massvie TSI file with a bunch of unintelligible text in it.

I am not saying remove the existing mapping management system, I am just asking for a tool to enable users to manually edit mappings in a plain-text editor. Do you honestly believe NI make mappings like us through Traktor's UI? That's just ridiculous.
Kellie Myrum
04.11.2013		NI mappings are simple and easy to create so they probably don't need better interface. Let's see if Pro 3 would touch the manager more.

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